


Please Take Me Home

by HypetrainHime



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, Gen, Horror, Mangling and such, old ass bot corpses, robot vomit somehow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-07-19 03:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19967272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HypetrainHime/pseuds/HypetrainHime
Summary: The war may have died down but tensions still flare. And even when they don't, reminders of the war still lurk in dusty corners of the Universe. Sentinel Prime has always been told not to think too hard about it. But it's hard not to think about the morality of the issues you ignore when it clings to your back and you feel it's gaze burrow into your plating.





	1. We are Lost

**Author's Note:**

> My first real attempt at Horror. I think it was a good practice. Mind the warnings, even if the writing's not too great.

Sentinel thought they were past this.

He’d not expected Ultra Magnus to ask him, Jazz and the Jet Twins to assist in the capture of a renegade Autobot scientist. Nor did he expect to be sent what felt like halfway across the galaxy to reach a remote mining outpost to chase him down. Normally Sentinel wouldn’t have accepted the task. But no other Primes were available to retrieve the runaway, and upsetting Ultra Magnus was not the best career choice. Praxia 12 was barely a dot on the Autobot starmaps, only relevant because they were one of the more populated of the remote mining outposts they had cataloged away. They mined the materials used to make sensor dampening armor there, and while most of it went to the Cyberninja dojo, some ended up with the Elite Guard. Its one personal saving grace to Sentinel was that there was no sign of organic life on it anywhere.

Sentinel had maybe been there ONCE on a call in regards to a crashed Decepticon ship in the area. There was no sign of survivors but the ship had been a total wreck. Last he’d seen of it, the locals were stripping it down for parts after their investigation was concluded and all files were downloaded from the ship’s database. It had been a research vessel apparently, and the crew was supposed to have been on the brink of a great discovery. But the logs had stopped after a certain point, and no more had been made since the ship was found crashed and broken on the outpost.

Sentinel had been there when all the equipment was taken back to Iacon, and that was the last he’d seen of it.

He was idling on the bridge, just reading this renegade’s file again. Jukes, a scientist who’d learned about how loose the Autobots were in regards to ethics behind the scenes, had fled for his life. He’d upset the wrong bots. Questioned the wrong protocols. He’d been specifically against using the Twins as test subjects when they’d had a sample of Starscream’s CNA. Time and again, Jukes had shown himself to be just a little too compassionate to be in this business. And now, after fleeing and trying to run straight into Decepticon servos, he was going to pay the price. Jukes had stolen so much research, so many codes, and was planning on trading it away to the Decepticons in exchange for freedom, safe passage. 

Well. Sentinel couldn’t have THAT, now could he?

* * *

Praxia 12 was devoid of any and all organic life, but Sentinel still hated the place.

Dust, stone, rust, and all manner of non-organic contaminants threatening to clog his intakes and dirty his just waxed frame. The locals weren’t much better, yokels who hadn’t seen another fancy city mech in stellar cycles. All of them rusted and filthy miners, with barely enough engine and processor power to run a flashlight between them all.

But of course he had to be nice. They had been the ones to report Jukes’ arrival to this primus forsaken rock. He had to ask them for help not only trying to FIND Jukes, but also just navigating the area...

While Jetfire and Jetstorm shot off to scan the nearby outpost for any energy signals, Sentinel and Jazz would meet their contact at the designated point. Some clunker named… Clunker. Apparently. “SP, you think that that scientist really dashed all the way out here just to escape us?” Jazz asked, following Sentinel off the ship. “He must have been desperate as all pit to come here.”

“Obviously, we’re dealing with a coward, trying to get a ride to the outer part of the galaxy with his new Decepticon buddies.“ Sentinel replied. “So clearly we just have the Twins track him down, cuff him and call it a day. There can’t be THAT many places he can hide, right?”

Had Jazz’s optics not been behind a visor, he would have just stared at Sentinel in disbelief.

Of course he would forget this was a MINING community.

* * *

Thankfully, it wouldn’t take long to interview all the witnesses as all of the dozen or so bots had the same story: They’d seen the bot come into town for supplies and they’d fled to the mines. Everyone had gathered outside in the center of the outpost so that they could get statements down, and everyone accounted for, just in case.

No one seemed terribly bothered by the fact, as many were quick to add that the mines were probably going to kill the guy before Sentinel or Jazz could get to him. No matter who they talked to, everyone seemed to just agree.

“Don’t you guys work in those mines?” Jazz asked. “How can you vouch for your workplace being that dangerous?”

Clunker, the foreman of the mines, just snorted. He was a tired looking old dump truck, with his faded green kibble and his sexy femmebot print mudflaps. But he was just settling in, having just answered what they’d asked him about their missing bot. “Listen, citymech, We work in those mines day in and day out. There’s no signal there and we can’t pinpoint energy signatures in there unless they’re right on top of us or in the same tunnel. A stranger going in there is not only gonna get very lost but also very dead.” He paused as the miners around him nodded. “And even us, the experts, are scared to go down there by ourselves unless we gotta, when it comes to places like...Well, THAT section.”

“Yeah?” Sentinel sneered. “C’mon now you bots are all big and strong and brave, right? What could possibly give you a reason to be scared?”

“Well, there’s something down there.” Clunker replied, as the rest of his workers shifted uncomfortably. “Miners that go too deep down there don’t come out. Any time we try and retrieve those miners, we lose more. So we’ve just had that section sealed off for a while now. Big steel door, lock and activation on the outside only. If a fugitive’s not looking to be found, I reckon he’ll head there.” Clunker tutted as the others looked down. “He won’t last a decacycle there, poor thing.”

“But will you help us find him?” Sentinel continued, unfazed by the other’s sentimentality and overall concern. “He’s a coward and he needs to be brought back and tried for his crimes.”

“Well. Reckon you won’t take no for an answer. Follow me.”

* * *

The mine itself was. Well. A mine. A big frag off hole in the ground, with a path working itself downward in a spiral. The place was deserted as of now, as most bots had already returned to the Outpost to rest and drink high grade. But it was clear that at least a couple were still here, making sure the equipment wasn’t tampered with. The security drones were still up and patrolling, with a couple of bots even helping. 

“Heh. We don’t get much excitement out here.” Clunker explained, passing the makeshift guards with a nod. “When we heard that there might be a fugitive about, a few of the mechs were all too ready to hunt them down. I’m tellin’ ya, the only place he could be is behind that fragoff big door. For obvious safety reasons, we can’t go after him. So, that’s the place you’d have to look.”

Jazz and Sentinel exchanged looks. Did they REALLY believe all that? That something was really just down there? Offlining mechs? And they EXPECTED THEM to go in there? 

“Are you SURE that you’ve looked everywhere?” Jazz asked.

“Yup. We went in after him, after giving him a head start…” Clunker explained. “we thought he’d try and just drive off at first but we found his tread marks heading down into the mines. We told him to stay away but well...” He shook his helm. “Alright, fine. We have cameras in there, at major junctions. We can confirm he went down there, yeah. And… Well, we tracked him. We had a camera down there watching the big ol’ door, and we have footage of him going down there and shutting the gate behind him. We can take you to the security hub if you’re wantin’ to see for yourself.”

“Yeah that’d be REALLY nice.” Sentinel was sick of this. He was sick of dealing with all these stupid mudflap, rusted out hunks of junk. He just wanted to get back to some manner of civilization. And maybe get a deep cleaning. 

The security hub was just a ramshackle old shack, rusty, dusty and all manner of unpleasant, with surprisingly well kept equipment inside. Jazz had to do his best to soothe his superior officer as his slamming of the door caused a bunch of dust to fall on his face and chin… But thankfully the video feed was up in an instant. 

The pair of Elite Guardsmechs peered at the monitors, and yes. That was Jukes. The poor stupid bot, all rounded edges and panicked venting, was making a mad dash through the mines. He seemed to be just taking turns at random, not knowing where he was going or why.

“He must be trying to find a place to lay low until the ‘Cons come get him.” Jazz mused, watching as he finally reached the ominous door that no one seemed to want to go near. The door itself looked so… bulky. Impossibly thick and heavy, with all manner of warning signs welded on… and all manner of graffiti painted onto it. It was here that Jukes took a moment to regain his composure, before fiddling with the control panel by the door. There was only about a few minutes that passed before alarms went off on the screen, and the door began to rise up… Jukes punched some more codes in and slid under as the door started to shut again. And eventually, silence fell over the mine shafts again. 

Sentinel heaved a great sigh when all the footage had been played and dusted himself off. “Jazz, have the Jet Twins fly over the mine. If they detect ANYONE that’s coming out of anywhere that’s not the main entrance, they’re allowed to get them by any means necessary. You stay here and monitor the cameras in case our little fugitive tries to make a break for it. Clunker, I can’t believe I’m saying this but. Have your mechs guard the front and main exits to the mine.” He rattled off the orders with surprising quickness. 

“And what will you be doin’, Sentinel Prime sir?” Clunker asked, hand ready to activate his com.

“What do you think? I’m the bot who has to flush him out.” 

* * *

He wasn’t happy about this. Not at all. But he couldn’t let Jazz take the credit for finding and apprehending Jukes. Jukes was a science bot, a real weakling. If it weren’t for all the fear and slag that ran through his system NOW, he’d have never gotten this far…

“SP, are you SURE about this.” Jazz was… well it’s not that he didn’t have FAITH in Sentinel. But these mines could be pretty cramped, and it might be hard for him to get around. “I can just-”

“You can JUST follow orders and get to your post.” Sentinel snapped wearily. “I’m not excited about this either Jazz, but I’m in charge here and I have to be the one to do this. Everyone else already has a job, alright?! The Twins would just… get distracted or something!” As much as he loathed to admit it, those two… they wouldn’t like the tunnels. They had been repair bots but he had enough presence of mind to realize fliers didn’t belong underground. It didn’t feel right to send them after Jukes…

He may as well have been marching to his execution, as Clunker gave him a datapad with a map as well as extra power cells for extra lights. This particular datapad was at least equipped with a localized positioning program, so his map would update in real time as to his position. This was one of the last ones they had, as any time anyone would take one in to try and retrieve lost bots, they would be lost too...

Clunker was nice enough to walk Sentinel in. He’d pipe up every so often, asking him if he was SURE he wanted to do this. If he was sure that this was worth it. That whatever was in that mine would take care of their runaway.

“I appreciate the concern, but this is Elite Guard business. If I just backed out, what kind of Prime would I be?” Sentinel would respond. He’d MUCH rather have Jazz go in and get him but there was no way he’d let Jazz take all the credit. Besides. Jazz Prime? Jazzimus Prime? If he got promoted he’d have a horrible name. Sentinel couldn’t let that happen. Well… Whatever happened, he’d be a hero. Live or die a hero. It’d be fine.

Probably.

The door to the mine shaft was… much bigger up close. It towered over them, probably able to accommodate a bot thrice Sentinel’s size, and it indeed was covered in the (exceedingly colorful) graffiti he’d seen over the monitors. 

Clunker worked on getting the gate raised. “When this closes, I’ll head back topside. I’ll have a couple of bots changing shift and wait for you to come back. Five knocks, got it? Five. Any more or any less and we won’t open the door.”

“You’re still clinging to that… idea that something’s down there? Well, if I happen to FIND it I’ll be sure to bring it back, dead or alive.” Sentinel was not having this. He was sick of all these rumors and furtive mumbles about monsters in the darkness… “just open the gate, I’m going in.”

“If you say so. Good luck and uh, try not to offline in there.” Clunker replied at last, just opening the gate. It moved up so… slowly… it felt like an eternity before it finally was open enough for Sentinel to stoop under and signal for the foreman to shut the gate again. 

The grinding of the gears was much louder in here, as the last rays of outside light shortened to nothing. Sentinel was all alone in the looming, dimly lit corridor, the lights running an eerie green. It was enough to see by, sure, but not enough to search by. 

The grinding of the gears had ended what seemed like forever ago.

Despite the enveloping horror that he was truly all alone in here, he had a job to do. And he would have to do it, one way or another.

* * *

Echoing steps and the faint rattle of stones as he kicked them were the only things that kept Sentinel company in the dimly lit tunnels. He’d never felt like this before, never so insistent that there was nothing to fear but also so uneasy he was jumping at the movement in his peripheral vision. There was nothing here surely! There was just him and the old equipment and the lights! He had to laugh at himself. Though it made his internals clench. He was just very much reminded of...

Despite his anxiety, he walked on. The mines here were actually quite nice. He even came to one of the hub rooms, a huge pillar shaped room with walkways above him crisscrossing and overlapping like... Sentinel shook his head. Now was not the time to think of that. Think of her. He had a mission to focus on! There were no organics on this Primus forsaken rock! He’d shake it off and keep going, looking for any excuse to push the anxieties and old fears out of his head.

Old terminals sat gathering rust, hover tracks and lifts sat quiet and without power. There were even equipment sheds that laid open and untouched. The tools inside seemed to be in perfect working order, and only a couple were missing while the rest were coated in dust. Aside from the lack of workers and the excess dust and rust on the equipment, this place looked like it had just been vacated upon the day’s end. 

At the other end of the room, at ground level, there seemed to be several ways to proceed. Sentinel checked his map, trying to find himself… Ah. There. He was annoyed to find that he’d basically walked down one long corridor and had not actually gotten that deep into the mines. Well, regardless. He’d just pick one of the corridors at random, marking it off on his map and wandering through it. 

This tunnel was a lot dustier, as if nothing here had been touched in stellar cycles. But Sentinel proceeded anyway. The lights down here were dimmer, flickering as if the wiring was finally starting to give out. He’d flip on his auxiliary lights, and just kept walking. And walking. And walking. What a horribly dull time. He could be back in Iacon right now, sitting in his office and just relaxing. Not listening to his own footsteps as his only company in this tunnel. He could feel the ground under him start to slope, dipping down gently as he started to descend. 

He wished Jazz would contact him. He hadn’t gone too far down the shafts, and someone that wasn’t himself, despite himself being the best kind of company, would make for a welcome change. He felt like he was just walking through the halls of the Autobot base, the back corridors used mostly by maintenance bots. Right down to the terrible lighting-

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t feel the dip in the ground until it was too late. Sentinel stumbled, able to right himself and holding still as he tried to regain his balance… And only then did he realize that he was still hearing footsteps. That wasn’t him, and it wasn’t an echo, so…

The blue mech crept forward, keeping low and quiet as possible as he reached the end of the tunnel. He hid behind some crates, and waited a moment. The footsteps were getting closer… And from the other side of the boxes, a mech appeared. 

The ground bot was just wandering past, seeming to be hopelessly lost with how he dragged his peds. His violet armor was dusted and dented, and lacked the luster of a well cared for bot. He couldn’t have been down here long, though, how had he gotten so filthy in such a short amount of time? Regardless, that was Jukes. Sentinel’s optics flared as he stepped out from behind the box, snapping, “Hold it right there!”

Jukes jumped, whirling around to see Sentinel there. “What-?! Who-! How did you get in here?!” He demanded, taking a step back. 

“That doesn’t matter, but what matters is you’re coming back topside with me, traitor!” Sentinel grabbed at his waist, feeling for his stasis… cuffs…

In his excitement, it seemed he’d forgotten to bring any stasis cuffs.

In the momentary pause where Sentinel looked down to confirm he’d indeed left the needed equipment to proceed, Jukes took off. Transforming, he drove off down the hall, pealing away and down a corridor going left.

“Hey! Get back here!” Sentinel ordered, transforming and following suit. While he wasn’t as fast as the scientist, he WAS able to barrel through blockades and barriers of debris and detritus. Nothing could stand in his way as he did what he could to keep up with Jukes. But soon he could only hear the sounds of his own engine in his audials. 

* * *

After what seemed like forever, Sentinel finally transformed back. He was venting quite hard, having really pushed himself harder than he would have liked. He took stock of where he was, somewhere deep in the mines. On either side were doors, with the panels to unlock them shattered as if by great force. As such the doors were stuck either open or closed…

Sentinel flipped on the auxiliary light so he could peer in them, squinting. The open rooms had been ransacked, it seemed. One was especially bad. Berths toppled, debris scattered around, storage units clawed open… wait, clawed open? He looked closer at one of the storage units, and saw that it HAD been clawed open. Deep gashes had been carved into where the metal lid met the rest of the unit, and the lid was left tossed against the wall… Claw marks though. “That’s… not something Autobots have. Most bots don’t...” Well! Perhaps the workers had just. Been messy. He didn’t want to think about the alternatives.

He headed back into the hall, and noticed that the hall he’d come from had tire tread marks. His, obviously. At least he wouldn’t get lost. He could just go back the way he came. Relieved, he looked at his map and was shocked to find that he was all the way across the facility, in the worker’s underground dorms. Must have been for when they had exceptionally long shifts or they couldn’t find a place above ground. Regardless, he’d have to make sure he marked off his trail on the map, as he followed his trail back.

As Sentinel traveled onward, he found he was indeed smack dab in the middle of the living area for the former workers. Datapads were left on tables, terminals sat dead and without power… He glanced between the map and his surroundings, making sure to keep track of where he was, when he perked up at the sound of rustling. 

It was coming from within a communal refueling area, a canteen even. 

It could be Jukes… Sentinel would shut off the light so not to spook him, creeping up and seeing someone sat there at one of the tables, hunched over as if in deep thought… He must have gotten tired out after all that fleeing. Sentinel wasn’t the best at stealth, but it was like he wasn’t even paying attention. Peculiar. But he wasn't going to complain. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

“Got you now!” He yelled, grabbing the-

Corpse that stared at him with dead, empty optics.

Sentinel shrieked, letting go and dropping the empty shell of a bot, turning on his light in a panic. Only now was he seeing that its chest plating had been torn open, as if impaled and tossed about while still run through. The bot’s jaw had been dislocated and was hanging loose, gawping at Sentinel as if asking HIM what he was doing down here. The rest was completely and otherwise intact. There were minor scuffs on the other’s appendages, but otherwise no damage to the armor. Shaking, Sentinel frantically fumbled to try and contact Jazz. “Jazz! Jazz come in! Jazz, where the frag-!” He was getting through but all that was coming through was garbled words laced with static. 

“Ok… Ok...” Sentinel was trying to calm down. Looking at the body, he realized that he old as slag. The body had been covered in dust and the table he’d been sat at was just as dusty, if not dustier. It was like no one had moved them for stellar cycles… much like all the other things in this fragging mine… But someone HAD to have put him here. There was no sign of energon or oil spilled here. Meaning he’d been moved here a long time ago…

And worst of all. Worst of all, the same claw marks he’d seen on the crates were on the bot’s helm. As if something had been holding him still and he’d been struggling… 

Perhaps… the miners hadn’t just been seeing and hearing things.

He couldn’t panic. Sentinel took a moment to just try and quash his fears leaning back against a wall and just trying not to lose himself as he stared at the long dead bot before him. Jukes was still out there. He had to find him. And maybe whatever had killed this bot before him had offlined a long time ago as well. If not…

He didn’t want to think about it.

Sentinel shakily pulled away from the bot, looking around and trying to scan for any sort of movement. Nothing. His screams and scrambling had been the only things to disturb this canteen in a LONG time… Well. For now, he’d have to leave. As creepy and energon chilling as this was, there was nothing to be done for this bot now. 

But he would have to make sure to watch his back from now on.

* * *

Just follow the tread marks.

Just follow the tread marks.

Regroup and come back with reinforcements. 

Sentinel was singing his past self’s praises for his recklessness. He’d returned to his task of following the trail of chaos he’d made for himself, and marking off his trail on the map. He had to focus. Had to keep his cool. Had to not worry about what he’d seen. It was going to be fine. As soon as he was higher up, he’d contact Jazz and tell him he was coming back. That Jukes would be fine to stay down here a little while longer while he left and came back with heavier firepower, perhaps a few squads to back him up-

Left, left, right, right, straight ahead… Wait a moment.

He paused and looked to his right.

The map said that this intersection was just a hallway.

What was this tunnel doing here?

The tunnel itself was lacking the structural supports popping up every so often that the mapped tunnels had. There were no lights strung up within, and even as Sentinel shone his light down it, there was no seeing the end. The only conclusion Sentinel could come up with was that this was a more recent addition.

Well.

Good thing he hadn’t come from down there.

He would keep walking, free hand on his plasma lance when he wasn’t marking off his path. No sense in getting too complacent. Clearly he just needed to not worry. The tunnel wasn’t on his map, so he could tell when they were just… new.

And as he kept walking, there were more.

Some were just alcoves, some were too high up off the ground to be used by any Cybertronian, others stretched on as if endless like the first one he’d encountered. One in particular still had claw marks by the entrance, as if it was marked for some unknown filing system. But despite his anxiety and growing jumpiness, he could feel himself walking toward the surface. All the paths he’d taken were sloping upwards, even if it was little by little. And the more he walked, the less tunnels he saw. Good. Excellent. 

He took a moment to zoom out the map a bit, and realized he was actually really close to the hallway where he’d first spotted Jukes. Sentinel breathed a sigh of relief as he kept going. Almost there.

His comlink beeped, causing him to shriek and whip out his plasma lance. It took some frantic swinging around to realize it was just his com, and he picked up, trying not to sound like he’d just swung his arms around like an overcharged training dummy.

“SP! Can you read me! What’s going on down there?” Jazz’s voice was the most relieving thing he’d heard all cycle. “I picked up on your coms but they were scrambled to the pit and back.”

“Uh.” He had to shake his head. “I found the fugitive but I lost him in the halls. Ended up going way deeper than I needed to, and now I can’t find him.” Sentinel was putting on a brave show, trying very hard not to show Jazz his fear OR relief. “I think we’ll need to regroup and bring back some more bots to chase him. This place is too big, he could be hiding anywhere down here.”

“You sure about that? I don’t think any other team are in range, and they’re all busy-” Jazz replied.

“Well I can’t find him, and like I said! The place is too big for one bot to cover on his own. Just! Wait by the door for my knock, I’m coming up now.” He snapped, shutting off communications. Putting away his lance, he kept going upwards, towards safety. Away from the weird creepy horrors that lurked in this place. 

He really needed to clean off, all this dust and grit in his peds and joints were really irritating. Maybe he’d go to the Outpost saloon and have some highgrade. After all he’d been through he needed some. Maybe he’d just. Leave Jukes here. Say he killed him because he was trying to put up a fight. Sentinel wouldn’t be hated for it, he’d just say he’d been glitched out and trying to kill him first and he’d encrypted all the data.. no no, he’d fallen into a grinder… Yeah that would work. He’d fallen into a grinder and he’d lost all the bits of his armor-

He was shaken from his thoughts by the scrape of metal on metal, followed by the more audial bursting shriek he’d ever heard. It sounded… like an overcharged vocalizer, hooked up to one of those com systems in amusement parks… but somehow even WORSE. Like it was multiple takes of the same scream overlapping and clipping into one another...!

As the shock wore off, he turned… and saw Jukes running at him. He only managed to realize one of the other bot’s servos had been torn up and was dangling from its socket when Jukes reached Sentinel, grabbing his arm and pulling him down the hallway.

“What in the- JUKES!” He snarled, pulling back and making the fugitive fall off balance. “You have a lot of explaining to do! I-”

“SHUT UP!” Juke screamed, voice strained as if he’d been screaming for a whole cycle. “SHUT UP ITS COMING!”

“What-?”

“RUN!”

And so Jukes pulled Sentinel away, away from the surface, away from the Outpost… but also away from death itself.


	2. We Are Found

Sentinel did not know what they were running from.

But one curious glance back told him all he needed to know.

The form that came from around the same corner as Jukes was thin. Slender. With two sets of white optics blasting light directly into his own. And from its body came more than double the amount of limbs any bot or creature should have. They clung to the walls, moving the thing forward-

That was all he needed to see.

He immediately started dragging Jukes as he outpaced him, optics wide. No… No no no no no that couldn’t be! That was-! They had said-! He should be staying and fighting but-! His mind was full of thoughts, marred by terror and the instinct to survive. He could hear the scuttle of limbs, claws clacking against metal, scratching and scraping as it followed them.

And that shriek.

It echoed in his audials, rattling his processor as it filled and bounced around the hall they ran down. But he just had. To keep running. Just had to keep running. He heard Jukes say something but he refused to stop and analyze. Lest they fall victim to… whatever that was.

* * *

Jazz was stood outside the security door, tapping his ped. Where was Sentinel? He’d said he was coming right up… That had been a decent enough time ago, and he’d not heard the other knock. The guards with him were looking pretty nervous, as they shifted and waited to get the clear to open the door.

“Jazz sir!” The ninja looked up to see that Jetfire and Jetstorm had showed up, dashing down the corridor towards him. “Is everything to being ok down here?”

“Hey now, you cats can’t be leavin’ your posts like that.” Jazz chided, but he wasn’t particularly bothered… The fact that Sentinel was taking so long was more worrying. “It’s weird… Sentinel said he’d be right up. I hope he’s ok.”

“Heh! I am sure Sentinel Prime sir is safe and sound.” Jetstorm commented.

“Yes, he is good at making himself the problem of others. It is his special talent!” Jetfire replied.

Jazz smiled, but shook his head. “C’mon now. Don’t say that about him. I know he can be… difficult, but he’s still your commanding officer.”

“Sorry Jazz sir. We are just partaking in the… What did the workerbots call it?” Jetstorm asked, turning to his brother. 

“The talking of the trash, brother.” Jetfire replied, snorting. “It is just fun. Making good bonds between bots.”

“Well, don’t let him hear you talkin’ like that.” Jazz reprimanded them playfully, before turning back to the door. “Wild. Still nothin’. It makes a bot wanna go down there and make sure he’s alright...” Of course he couldn’t do that. He didn’t have a map, and he might get lost down there… 

“We will go back to the posts and see if he shows up. I am sure Sentinel Prime sir is doing well.” Jetfire grabbed his brother by the arm, seeming cheerful about his commanding officer.

“Yes! I’m sure he is just making sure that the Jukes is taken care of.”

“What would we be doing without him? So smart and capable.”

“And level headed too!”

* * *

“You wanna explain to me WHAT THE FRAG WAS THAT?!”

They’d lost the monster after running through twisting and turning caverns, having taken shelter in another part of the mine. This one was a lot less… homely, as it was partially collapsed in some places. The rusting remains of drills and excavators were strewn about the tunnels, and the support beams were bent in several places as if they’d been dented by some massive weapon or bot slamming into them. 

Jukes was shaking pretty bad, staring up at Sentinel with wide optics. The scientist just shook his head, saying, “I… I don’t know what that was. When I got here, I… I never saw anything like that… I heard stuff in the mines but...” He dragged himself up against a mine cart, groaning… “It tore me up really bad, sir. Please… I’m worth more to ya alive than dead… Ya gotta help me… please.” His labored venting filled the tunnels, optics flickering as he struggled to keep himself upright.

“For dragging me into this mess, I should just leave you here!” Sentinel snapped, only to get shushed by Jukes.

“You gotta be quiet… If that thing hears us, it’s all over...” Jukes reminded him, wincing as he worked his way back to his peds. “I don’t… know where we are in relation… to the door… Do you…?”

“Hmph. Lucky for you, yours truly has a map.” Sentinel retrieved said map from his subspace, smiling a he held it out of reach. “But unless you’re planning on coming quietly, you can just forget me helping you.” Though really… Sentinel had NO problem about leaving this misbegotten scrap heap to offline at that thing’s claws...

“What? I’m… Ugh...” Jukes just averted his gaze. “...Fine. I’ll give myself up. Just please, I don’t wanna offline down here. I’d rather rot in prison forever than offline to that thing...” 

“That’s more like it. Don’t force my hand, and you’ll get out of here to live another solar cycle, coward. Let’s go.”

Sentinel had Jukes walk in front, making sure there was a decent distance between them both… just in case. He was looking at the map, telling Jukes where to turn and where to stop while he checked the route ahead… When he bumped into the mech. Jukes had stopped dead right by a T-junction, and seemed frozen in place. “Hey! I didn’t tell you to-!” Sentinel yelped as he felt Jukes push him into an alcove, getting shushed…

There was a familiar clink of claws.

Something was making a soft chattering sound, as it reached the junction. The light from its optics were sweeping up and down, casting shadows… Jukes pushed Sentinel deeper in the alcove, as the light just passed over them both. And another pass over as it peered down the tunnel they’d just come from. Sentinel could see its helm silhouetted in the bright light coming from it’s optics, and he felt his spark just still completely. There was a frustrated shriek, similar to the energon chilling one that announced the presence of the monster prior, and the lights suddenly shifted, as it started to crawl along the ceiling. It appeared to be going down the tunnel that was straight ahead for it, and to the right for Sentinel and Jukes..

Only when the clicking and rattling had subsided did Jukes pull back. “...That thing… It’s still looking for us. We have to be quiet...Augh...” He winced as he felt his broken servo spark a little. “How far are we from the entrance?”

Sentinel looked at the map. “...Still a ways to go. I’m surprised it didn’t sense us when it passed by. It had to be just on the other side of the wall.”

“This mine is full of signal dampening ores. The only way it’d be able to sense us is if we were right next to it. I’m surprised it didn’t sense us right then... But that thing seems to be able to hear and see pretty well too. So even if it can’t sense us, we gotta try and avoid catching it’s gaze...” Jukes looked up at Sentinel, shoulder plating sagging and knees shaking. “I’m begging you, please keep your voice down. I don’t want either of us to die.”

“I… Fine.” Sentinel would dust himself down, and proceed to the left. “C’mon. We need to get out of here before it comes back.” 

There would be no more talking for a little while. After that, nothing needed to be said.

* * *

The pair couldn’t help but jump more often, every little noise possibly being a warning of imminent death. Sentinel was even hesitant to investigate the unmarked tunnels that they came across as they worked their way back up to the surface. At least as long as there were no suspicious lights coming from the end, it would be ok. It was uncertain how many undocumented tunnels had been dug all over this mine, but they both knew one thing: That monster could be anywhere. 

But of course, that freak of nature was not their only issue. 

-

“Are you kidding me…?”

Jukes was staring at a cave in, peds shaking from how much energon he’d lost. “This… This isn’t the only way out, is it?”

“...It’s the only way out listed here. We must have run through an unmarked tunnel in the panic.” Sentinel sighed. 

“...I can’t go on like this We… We gotta find a place to rest.” Jukes mumbled, leaning heavily on the wall. “Please, I gotta try and repair myself...”

“Fat chance! If we stop, that thing will find us and...and do something awful to us I’m sure!”

“And if we DON’T rest, I’ll drop offline and then you’ll be all alone for it to hunt.”

That… well… That was enough to give Sentinel pause. “...FINE. We’ll… We’ll do that. Ugh...” He really didn’t want to admit he needed a break too. All he wanted was out of this Allspark forsaken mine! He wanted to get cleaned up and forget this ever happened! “Uh...” He looked around, and saw there was a tunnel they’d passed. “Here. The map says this is a break room or… something.” He didn’t bother to help the other up, but went ahead. 

The place was dusty as the other rooms. The tables and chairs had been knocked over and there was rubble everywhere, but there were a few intact vending machines as well as a first aid kit on the wall. “Jukes, get in here. There’s a med kit here...” Sentinel just wanted him to stop being so annoying, always moaning and making a big deal about his arm. They could replace it, and as long as he wasn’t leaving a trail, it was fine.

While Jukes was fumbling to get the supplies of the medkit out and ready to use, he’d have to figure out how to get these energon goodies out of the vending machine. They’d lost power, so he couldn’t just BUY snacks… and besides he didn’t have any shanix on him. So he’d just quietly and discreetly punch a hole in the glass and loot the machine. It wasn’t like anyone was going to get MAD at him about it, right? No one was going to come down here and reprimand him for breaking into an old as pit vending machine.

The shattering sound made Jukes jolt. “Shhhh!”

“Shhh yourself!” He whispered loudly, gathering up the snack packs. “I wanna refuel, alright? Here.” Sentinel tossed a sizable pack of rust sticks at his companion. “You should probably refuel too. After all the energon you lost.” He wasn’t about to let Jukes slow him down because he hadn’t refueled recently.

“...Thanks.” Jukes would seal up his wound, grumbling to himself about the pain. He’d tear into the rust sticks, as if he was so painfully low on fuel…

Sentinel would be indulging in a bag of energon gummies, stuffing his intake. “Sho’” He began, thankfully swallowing his mouthful before continuing. “What exactly WAS that thing?” He didn’t want to think about it but the more he knew, the more he could do against it.

“Well… I don’t really know.” Jukes began, nibbling on a rust stick. “Mmm, that’s really good. Hits the spot. Anyway, I actually had been hearing weird rustling since I got here. I’d hidden down here because well… I contacted the Decepticons and offered to bargain with them. Said I’d give them all I had if they could come pick me up. I was told to wait here and not be too conspicuous. So I decided, ‘Hey maybe the mineshafts will be okay for me to hide in until it’s time to get taken away. But I made the mistake of asking too many questions… So I had to hide. I ran down here and found out that… well, the door opens from one side. So I was stuck down here, and I couldn’t even contact the Decepticons.” 

“Sherves you right.” Sentinel replied with another mouthful of gummies. “You science types are always asking too many questions.”

“ANYWAY.” Jukes said, over him. “I spent some time down here, looking for a way out. And I DID manage to find one, actually-”

“And you were holding out on me?!”

“Let me explain!” Jukes huffed. “I’d gotten lost down here and I kept finding… corpses. So many corpses. I’d never seen so many, even with all my experience looking at the old war holo vids. They were all just… there. I… It was terrifying, but I was too scared to not keep moving. I thought this was some elaborate trap, at first. The Cons would show up and add my corpse to the pile. Eventually, I found an old hub room, full of old tech. Looked like somebot had been living there before I showed up. I could see a tunnel at the other end, and there was light coming through! But before I could investigate, I tripped over some weird wire looking thing… and that THING just powered on! It looked like an old pile of junk, and I… I ran. I ran so hard and so fast.” Jukes shuddered. “It looked directly at me. With those awful plain white optics. Like searchlights peering deep into me. I kept running and it SHRIEKED. It was horrible. I don’t know how I managed to lose it...”

“Well, I don’t care if it gave you berthroom eyes. Where did you find that exit?” Sentinel asked, tossing aside the now empty bag of snacks… and opening another. 

“I… I think that it was in that thing’s lair.” Jukes smiled sadly. “...If we want to stand any chance of getting out, we either go out the front door and hope someone’s waiting for us there, or we go out through the back. Maybe seal it up behind us.” He blinked as Sentinel tossed another pack of rust sticks at him. “Huh?”

“...What?” Sentinel just raised an optic ridge at him. “I don’t want you slowing my escape down. And maybe if you keep being useful, I can get your sentence reduced.” He’d just start eating his gummies for now. They’d need to be ready for anything.

“...Heh. Yeah.” 

Jukes would just smile as they refueled in silence. 

Primus what a glitch head.

* * *

“I don’t like this.” Jazz was pacing quite a bit. “I know that he wouldn’t have this much trouble against ONE science bot. Something must be happening… I gotta go after him.”

“I mean, maybe the thing that lives down there got him.” One of the guards offered helpfully. “I would just stay up here if I were you.”

“I thought that story was just that. A story.” The ninjabot looked up, pausing in his pacing.

“Nah, it’s not. I mean, SOMETHING kept leaving the bodies of bots in those mines.” The guard continued. “We kept finding bots, just DEAD. They’d been impaled by something and had their helms torn up. We searched those mines high and low, but we couldn’t find anything...” Both guards shivered at the thought. “So… we just closed the mines up. Wasn’t worth the trouble. And bots ended up surviving so… Whatever’s down there STAYED down there. 

“...” So. Sentinel was in VERY real danger. Jazz turned to the Jet Twins. “Alright. You two. Go back outside and scan the whole outside of the mine. See if we can’t get in somehow. I’m afraid t’say it, but SP might be in over his helm with this one...”

* * *

“Eugh!”

Sentinel was very much in over his helm with this one.

They’d started following the map to the south, towards the back of the mines. But things were admittedly grim. 

Sentinel had stumbled upon the gray and dusty corpses of two worker bots. Literally. Both had been laid on top of one another in a crossroads, and bore hauntingly familiar claw marks all over their frames. Both looked just like the last victim, impaled from behind and with otherwise little to no structural damage. Sentinel’s tank churned at the sight, and he had to fight back the urge to purge. 

“...Yeah… I remember seeing bots like this.” Jukes’ mouth was held in a grim line as he sidestepped the pair. Venting softly, the scientist kept his back to Sentinel. “I recall that the thing had more corpses near its’ nest where the exit was. So… It’s just gonna get nastier from here on out. But this does mean we’re getting closer so… Stay alert.”

“I KNOW that much. Don’t start getting all buddy buddy with me, just because we’re against some freak of nature. Your aft is still gonna be in the Stockades as soon as we’re back topside.” Sentinel huffed, holding up the map. “Alright… It looks like the map says you’re not full of slag. There’s a maintenance shaft a little ways ahead. We should hurry up and try and get out before that thing realizes where we are...” 

The pair would keep low and quick, crouched and ready to flee if they heard any noises out of the ordinary. But despite stumbling upon more and more corpses, the place was silent. Sentinel couldn’t help but keep a hand on his lance, ready to just extend it the second he felt or heard anything rustle. The halls were lined with bits and pieces of other bots, mangled but otherwise intact. A couple limbs were even hanging from vents in the ceiling and walls…

But no sign of the monster who’d made this hallway so gruesome. 

The walk to the end of the hall felt like it was forever and a day, as they crept up to the faraway opening up ahead. Still nothing. Just the clank of their peds as they crept on.

On and on… Sentinel’s servos were twitching, just wound up so badly… He almost WISHED something would happen. Something, anything to break this horrible tension.

He’d never get the satisfaction.

They reached the junction without incident.

“This way...” Jukes whispered, leading him up… Up, yes, a good sign.

* * *

They wound up in a round room, dusty but a lot cleaner than the hallway of horrors they’d just come through. There were a handful of terminals and old screens, as well as crates of supplies… now empty and probably empty for a long time. But that was not their biggest concern. Their biggest concern was the light filtering from a tunnel across the room…

Sentinel, having been stuck underground for so long, shoved Jukes aside and ran ahead to investigate the light. “Out of the way, scrapheap!” He snapped, rushing forward… He could feel himself going up… and up… and up…!

There was another room here, more or less the same size… but a different height. 

The walls of this room were steep stone, with the light coming from a partially broken vault door high above them. There was part of a staircase off to the side, but the upper portion had fallen away, leaving no way up that he could see.

“...” Sentinel just. Stared. And fell to his knees. So close. He could feel how close he was. He could feel the faintest breezes coming from that door! Why was it so far away?!

“Oh.” Sentinel looked back to see Jukes run in. “Uh… Didn’t see that coming. Hold on...” Jukes started to look around the room, and Sentinel could see that the place had a lot more crates… as well as a few more terminals. Jukes had made his way behind a stack of crates and started messing with something. “There’s a generator back here… Let me just...” There was a sudden hum, and the terminals, as well as several lights came on. 

“Looks like it still had some juice. You alright?” Jukes asked, as he helped Sentinel to his feet.

“Of course I’m alright.” Sentinel snapped. “I was just, uh, trying to see this from a new angle. Maybe figure out how to handle this...” He’d look at the map, saying, “Uh yep! This is the exit we were looking for. Now… maybe one of these terminals can help...”

He’d dust himself off and start messing with the one closest to him. “Alright let’s see… looks like there’s a system in place here to extend a ladder up to the entrance but… It looks like the mechanism’s jammed...” Sentinel huffed. “Great.”

“Maybe there’s some things we can use to get up in the other room?” 

“Well, you can go look. I’m gonna try and get this fixed-”

“or MAYBE...” Jukes interrupted. “The scientist with one arm should be working the terminal while the much more put together Elite Guardsmech checks for things to move to get out faster?”

“Shut your trap! I’ve got this.”

“No I mean I can’t really drag things with one arm. I’m pretty scrawny anyway, y’know? I wanna get out of here too, and we’ll get out faster if we work together and not against on another…!”

“Fine!” Sentinel groaned. “Fine fine just stop your whining!” He stomped out, going back to he other room… He couldn’t WAIT to lock this annoying scraplet in the Stockades, where he could complain and whine to his cellmates all solar cycle…

The room they’d left behind was better lit now, and Sentinel could see a lot of leftover debris from somebot living here. Datapads, old empty energon cubes, the usual detritus. But it was all so old… No matter. Sentinel started picking the room apart, pulling old crates to stack up while Jukes worked on the terminal. Most of the crates had been empty, but they’d at least been easy to stack on each other. It didn’t take long to get a decent pseudo-staircase going. 

Sentinel was starting to smile now, already looking a lot more happy… Soon, they’d be out and they could just… leave this nightmare behind. 

He was just grabbing another crate when a datapad fell out of it. The last few he’d looked at had just been old reports. A lot of science nonsense he didn’t really get. But this one was all clawed up and dented. Still functioning… but…

He set the crate down, crouching to grab it.

Wow. It was all sorts of messed up. Some of the data here was garbled and unreadable. But some of it… Was this someone’s journal? Well, he wasn’t one to pry but… Maybe he could take a nanoklik to read this entry.  
-  
_Crash landed here almost a deca cycle ago. Surprised we haven’t been found. The Bots chasing us shot us enough to down us, I wonder why they didn’t go in for the kill. Maybe they thought the crash would be enough._

_Asher says it’s only a matter of time before we’re discovered. But Freeflight says we can evade them if we just cause a cave in or something. They never could get along. They’re arguing again._

_I just want to go home._

_Well. At least my research survived the crash. With this new type of energy retaining energon, we’ll be able to outlast those Autobots on mere sips. We’ll be able to fight for longer and start overtake their outposts._

_It’s a shame that this is all we have to drink though. It tastes rancid._

_Well. We’ll call it a field test. Lord Megatron will be pleased to know of our progress. I just hope we can get out of here in time. That distress beacon could attract the wrong kind of attention._

* * *

Lord Megatron?!

This was a Decepticon den! Had been! Whatever!

Sentinel was… shaking. Decepticon activity? Here? On top of that monster?! And what was that about a distress beacon?

Jukes.

He stormed into the other room, drawing his lance. “You! You set me up!” Sentinel snapped, waving the datapad around.

“What? What are you talking about? C’mon, Sentinel sir we can’t be slacking off we’re so close...” Jukes began, only to get a face full of datapad. “what’s this?”

“You tell me!”

Jukes began reading the datapad, brow furrowing… “...Sentinel this thing is ancient. This has to be at least a few stellar cycles old-”

“Oh I bet it is! It mentioned a distress beacon and I’m not about to let myself get ambushed by Decepticon scum!” It seemed the stress was getting to him, as he pointed the lance at Jukes. “How do I know that this isn’t just some elaborate trap to get off planet and make ME look like a fool!”

“Y-you’re losing it!” Jukes said, edging away from the lance.

“I bet you’re contacting your Decepticon buddies on that terminal right now!” He snapped, swinging his lance. Jukes only barely managed to duck, and fled back into the other room… Sentinel would give chase...

Only to be met with a familiar energon freezing shriek. 

Sentinel skidded to a halt, standing in the doorway as he stared down in horror. The monster had Jukes in his clutches, strange tentacle like limbs holding him down and staring down into his optics with their own… Jukes seemed frozen in place, unable to stop staring as the monster lifted him up by his helm...There was a horrible whirring as one of the tendrils turned into an actual drill, piercing the bot’s chest plating and drilling right through it. There was no scream as Jukes’ spark was effortlessly extracted, only the sickening splatter of energon against the stone floor… Followed by the rattle of metal as his corpse was dropped without any sort of care. The tendril was absorbing the spark, pulling it down along its length… and having it pop out in what looked like a cockpit. 

The glow of the other’s spark illuminated the haggard face of their pursuer, faceplates dented and scarred as if they’d been through a hundred battles. Only then did it look up and spot Sentinel. The tendrils lifted it up, up and over the now graying body of Jukes, and started to advance on him. Its optics flickered back on properly, and the last thing Sentinel saw was a bright white light...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes this is continuing. I hope you like this little horror practice fic I'm writing, and i'd really like to hear what you all think of it. It's not anywhere close to being done, so expect to see what will become of our favorite big chinned bastard!


	3. Together, For Better or Worse

Was he in the Well of All Sparks?

Had he come back to rest in the place where all sparks came from? Was he back where he was supposed to be, drifting warm and happy among his fellow fallen soldiers and heroes…?

No. He was laying on the ground, still in this mine.

Sentinel groaned, feeling around for his lance. What had happened? Last thing he’d recalled was a bright light, and then he was on the floor. Wait… Jukes…

He hoisted himself up and saw Jukes… or what was left of him. 

Sentinel’s tanks churned, as he stumbled back against the wall. That… That thing had ripped Jukes’ spark out and ATE HIM! All that was left was the gray shell of what had been an Autobot fugitive. His own spark was pounding, quivering and screaming for him to run as he fought not to just purge his tanks then and there. But… As he stilled himself, getting himself more focused, he realized… He was alive. The creature had not ripped his spark out, even when he had been perfectly vulnerable. Why?

And where was that… that thing now?

Sentinel leaned against the wall, using it to lift himself back onto his stabilizing servos as he looked around. No sign of that freak of nature. No sign of an energy signature either. Had it gone off to find more bots to feed on? But why would it, if Sentinel was right here? Well… Whatever. As long as it didn’t come back. 

He peered back into the antechamber, the light of day having passed with the light of the nearby moon illuminating the room. There was no sign of the monster here either. So it was probably back in the maze of tunnels, looking for its next victim or something…

He might need to work fast. It could come back at any time.

It hadn’t disturbed the boxes he’d been stacking, so he’d be able to get back to that. There were some boxes left, so he’d be able to just stack the last few up, climb up and get out of this pit forsaken hole in the ground… Besides most of these were empty anyway.

Sentinel carefully and quietly got to work, making sure he made as little noise as possible. The idea of alerting that thing to his presence again was terrifying, at best. It wouldn’t take long for him to stack the crates up… There was just the one left in the corner. But as he went to lift it, he found it was… heavier. So heavy, he strained his servos trying to pick it up. Yelping and falling back from the exertion, he rubbed his arms. “What the… what’s in this thing? A bunch of rocks?”

He opened the lid to find, yes. 

It was filled with a bunch of rocks.

Or more specifically ore. The ore from the mines, perfect for making signal dampening devices and armor.

And nestled in the box, curled up in a ball, was the monster. 

Its stolen spark was pulsing in its glass chest, letting off a sickly green glow as it was held in place by a couple of wire bundles. The lights of its optics were offline, and it was completely still…

SLAM!

Sentinel slammed the lid down on the box in a panic. 

Why did he do that.

His mind raced as he piled onto the lid, as a muffled but still audial piercing shriek came from inside. He felt the monster pushing up, slamming its tendrils up against the lid, pushing up as he tried to pile himself up on it… After a few good thumps, though, Sentinel felt himself falling back on his aft, as the monster snarled, staring down at him with those horrible optics…

Only to have the creature scream at him directly, and use its tendrils to try and yank the lid from his grasp. It’s hard for Sentinel not to scream back, pulling the lid back as hard as he can… Only to feel it pulled from his grip and toss it aside. It crawled out, tendrils feeling around and clicking against the floor as it advanced on him. And as the white hot light of its optics stared down into Sentinel’s, he could feel the same sensation of energon freezing terror. 

But despite that, there was no pain. 

No, there was no pain. No stabbing sensation. No drilling sounds.

But there was a weight on his back. 

He could feel the tendrils wrap around his shoulders, right between his kibble and his chestplating. The grip was… strong. It was like being secured into a drop ship, where falling out was a possible and deadly experience. He could feel two sets of two tendrils holding on, one around his shoulders and one around where his fuel tanks were. 

He blinked, and the light was gone.

Sentinel stood… and felt the damn monster was just holding onto his back.

Its claw dug into his plating, but aside from leaving pinprick small marks, it didn’t seem like it was putting full pressure in his grip. Its stabilizing servos were drawn in close to it’s horrible little body, the spiky broken metal scraping at his plating and making Sentinel grind his dentae together. “Hey! Get-Get off me!” He snapped, trying to reach back and grab at the… whatever it was. “Get your filthy servos off me, freak! I’ll-! I’ll-!”

It refused to pull away. It clung on, totally silent as it tightened its grip. It seemed not in the slightest bit bothered that it was now being tossed around as Sentinel tried to fumble, grabbing at its tendrils and trying to yank them away. 

In his desperation to separate his new passenger from his person, he even let himself fall backwards so he could possibly crush it under his weight. But a free set of tendrils just caught him as he fell, pushing him back onto his peds. At that, the creature hissed, tightening the tendrils already around his waist. Seemed that whatever this thing was, it didn’t appreciate this fretting and attempts to dislodge it. 

After much struggling, Sentinel knew he was beat. 

He sat down, panting and trying to catch his breath. “Okay… Okay, you’re… you’re a tough beast, aren’t you? Okay… Alright, fine. You wanna stay there, fine! Whatever! Just keep those drills away from me, and we’re fine! Deal?”

There was no reply.

“Good! Now...” Really he should be trying harder to pry this thing off. But right now, he was just sick of all of this. He was tired, wanted to get a deep clean and go back home. Maybe if he was lucky, he could ask the Twins to pry it off… or burn it off. Blow it away? Well, it had had plenty of chances to try and kill him. If it was just gonna sit on his back, he’d just. Try and get some work done.

“Alright so...” He stood next to his box tower, pushed up against the wall. “I don’t think I can put that heavy crate up there… So...” he huffed. “This will have to do.” The rock wall near the top didn't look craggy enough to have too many hand holds. But it was fine! He could hoist himself up that far, right?

So up he went.

He climbed up carefully, working to balance himself, and keep the tower of crates upright. It was leaning pretty heavily against the rock face, but still. Sentinel had to keep his optics pointed up, staring up at the ledge. The creature on his back shifted ever so slightly, still clinging tightly as its spare tendrils reinforced its grip on Sentinel’s back…

Whatever. Sentinel had to focus. If he didn’t, well… He didn’t want to think about it. 

After some slowpaced climbing, Sentinel found him self balanced at the top of the stack of crates… “Alright… Ok...” He was a bit winded but the worst was yet to come. “Alright, I’m just gonna…Gonna… Uh...” He was trying to gauge how far he’d have to jump to get as far up as possible when the monster’s tendrils uncoiled.

Two of the thicker ones had latched onto the rock work, digging its talons in and securing them to the wall. One reached up, and started to pull them up…

Sentinel was so startled he forgot to start grabbing at hand holds.

Little by little, the monster grabbed at the rock, holding on tight and helping reinforce Sentinel’s ability to get up. Even when some of the rock gave way under Sentinel’s grip, the tendrils held firm, going taunt and causing the monster to hiss and rattle. “Alright alright! Relax, I just slipped! Don’t blow a fuse, you...” He regained his grip, slowly climbing up and just. Trying not to think too hard about this. How he was talking to a monster who had killed Jukes in cold energon and devoured his spark… What sort of beast even DID something like that?

Apparently the one that also latched itself to his back and just. Held on.

After a short but tense climb, they were up. Sentinel could see the moonlight outside, and he scrambled out the opening… 

They were somewhere on the other side of the mines, and all Sentinel could see was the vast craggy landscape of this backwater planet. The rusty red and orange stone looked washed out in the moonlight, and from this spot, Sentinel would be able to see any bot coming. Though they could easily hide in the various canyons and hills…

Aside from the mine and outpost, there REALLY wasn’t anything to see out here.

“...Phew.” He sat down hard, taking a bag of energon gummies from his subspace. Maybe he’d just have a seat for a bit before he went to try and fine Jazz and the others. All that climbing, assisted or not, was rough work. Sentinel just stuffed some of the gummies in his intake, relishing the way they popped and oozed… But he was certainly not expecting one of the tendrils to try and make a grab at the bag.

“Hey! No! Knock that off, these are mine!” He insisted, yanking the bag back and trying to ignore the indignant screeching in his audials. “You already ate! You stupid little… sparkeater thing! You can’t have any of these!” The tug of war was not destined to last, unfortunately, as the bag was torn in two by the violent jerking motions. Gummies spilled everywhere, but the monster didn’t seem bothered. It simply started to gather up the sweets, picking them up and examining them. “Ahh frag…! You…!” He wanted to be mad, but the sudden tightening of the tendrils around his waist made him wheeze. “Fine! Fine, you can have them. Stupid… Slaggin’...”

He’d just open another bag for now, stuffing them all into his intake before the stupid monster could try and take it again. Choking hazard be damned, he was not going to waste perfectly good energon gummies on this thing! Sentinel would just sit there, trying not to think too much about how the pitspawned monster on his back was currently just picking up the gummies and squeezing them between its claws. 

“You’re supposed to EAT those, y’know.” He huffed after hearing squish after squish. “Y’know. Put them in your intake, use your dentae to mash them up?” He felt like he was talking to a protoform. How did teaching units do it? How did they put up with bots who could barely understand who they were? Seriously, he’d never dealt with anything like this. Even the Twins had been mostly self aware when they’d come under his care, and hadn’t been a big deal at all...

He was pulled from his thoughts by a violent gagging noise.

He twisted back as best as he could to see what was happening but all he could hear was a coughing and backfiring noise and then the splatter of energon behind them. Sentinel stood up in a panic, looking back and seeing what looked like the energon gummies that the weird creature had decided to try and consume… The formerly pink energon was now sparking with energy, and curdling into a vile shade of green. 

Sentinel felt his fuel tank turn, and he covered his own intake.

“Okay! Yeah! You clearly don’t… Aw that’s so disgusting.” He’d turn away, trying very hard not to follow suit.  
“Ugh. How did you… How much of those Ener-gummies did you eat?! Disgusting...” 

The monster just rasped a bit more but settled again, tightening the grip on Sentinel’s shoulders. It was letting out a low rumble, shuddering a little bit as Sentinel tried to get away from the puddle of purged energon as fast as physically possible. It kept gagging and leaving a small trail of curdled green energon as it spat up more of the stuff… Neither were privy to the fact that the stuff was melting holes into the rock as they walked away from it...

“By the All Spark, for such a terrifying monster, you’re really messed up for having consumed a little energon. Guess that sparks are all you can have now, huh?” He ex-vented, making his way down a trail that wound its way around the mountain. It was craggy and clearly not well maintained, but it’s all he had to work with at this point… “What even ARE you, huh? Some sort of weird Decepticon experiment? Those rooms didn’t have enough room to host a cyberball viewing party, there’s no way that the Cons could have set up a lab there. I’m… gonna have to have Jazz and the twins come back to clear it out or something.”

This was terrible. How was he supposed to explain to the Higher ups that he’d not only LOST the fugitive, but now he had this spark consuming monster that wanted to come home with him and he couldn’t just say no, or it would try and eat his spark too? This was just his luck, of course he had to deal with something like this. Sentinel could feel the dust in his joints, not too much but just enough to start to bother him. 

This was going to be a long orbital cycle.

* * *

Jazz was seriously considering going into those mines after Sentinel.

There was no word back from the Twins yet, and he couldn’t stop his pacing… “Clunker, are you sure there aren’t any other entrances or exits to that part of the mine? Any way that a bot could get in or out without having to go through your guys’ gate?” 

“Huh?” Clunker looked up from his datapad. “Well… There WAS one but we had a pretty bad landslide in the sector that it’s in. So we thought it had gotten covered up by that long time ago.”

Jazz had to stop himself from pinching his nasal ridge. “Gimmie those co-ordinates. I’m gonna send the Twins that way, if that’s the case. Why didn’t you mention this sooner?”

“Honestly? It’s been so long, I only recalled that existed recently. We don’t usually go on that side of the mountain since the terrain’s a mess. No chance of driving on those craggy roads, you’d have to walk down. No matter how hard we tried to clear the place out, it was just too much work. Taking away from the actual mining units, y’see. And any time we sent cleaning drones up there they’d just get smashed up...” Clunker paused. “We… assumed it was whatever was eating out miners so… We’re much rather not deal with it.”

“Understandable. Still, y’can’t just not tell us these things, man.” Jazz could only turn away as he was given the coordinates. “Jetfire. Jetstorm. Sendin’ you two coordinates, start lookin’ and scannin’ for SP. He should be around there somewhere.”

* * *

Sentinel was not having fun.

He’d been walking for a while now. And transforming was… difficult. The monster on his back just squeezed him if he tried to transform, effectively preventing him from changing… Probably for the best though. The terrain was a nightmare, all rocks scattered on an already narrow trail… He exhaustedly picked his way down the trail, just trying to find some semblance of society. A building, another bot, ANYTHING. He hated this stupid trip, he wanted to go HOME.

Though. What would Ultra Magnus say?

He really couldn’t just show up with… this thing in tow. There’d be widespread panic. Well, there would be if it was exposed to the public. Maybe he could pawn this thing off on the Autobot scientists… They’d LOVE a new subject to open up and poke around in. Though with how skinny this weird thing was, he doubted there’d be much to look at if they cut it open.

Maybe he could just-

“GHK!” He was yanked back by the beast, which hissed at him. “Hey! What’s the big idea, I’m not trying to-” He looked back at the path… and saw the steep drop he’d about to walk off of. It seemed that a part of the trail had been taken out, and he’d need to sidle around the edge… But this stupid monster had seen that and had alerted him to the fact…?

He rolled his optics as the beast tightened its grip on him, pulling him back a little more. “...Okay fine. Thanks for not letting us fall off. What, d’you want a medal?” He’d just try and hug the wall, carefully trying to get to where the trail was wider… only to see two clawed tendrils latch onto the rock face and fasten themselves securely on. Just like when they’d been climbing up to get out.

“...” This was… weird. This thing really didn’t need to help him THAT much. What was it’s angle? Well. Regardless, he’d keep focused, trying very hard not to look off the edge as he made his way to the other side. Sentinel had to freeze at every clatter of falling rock, unwilling to let himself fall off the edge… He’d reach out with a ped, feeling how secure the next step was, while the monster on his back would release the wall with one claw, and latch on again as they moved onward.

“Wh…?” There was a patch of rock here that almost instantly crumbled as he tested it with his ped. “...GREAT. Now what do we- I mean, I, do?” Could he make the jump? He couldn’t make a running start… 

The monster rattled, hissing and letting go of Sentinel’s waist.

“W-what are you doing?! Don’t drop me!” He yelped, though the tendrils holding his shoulders were tightening as the beast started to cling to the wall. Hefting Sentinel off his peds, it skittered across the wall, reaching the rest of the train in but a few nanokliks. Once they were on the other side though, the tendrils drooped, as the creature… wheezed. 

“...Uh. Well. Alright, that’s.” This thing wasn’t a total waste of space, then wasn’t it? “Fine. I guess I should thank you for that too then.” At least no one was here to hear that. Thanking a monster that devoured an Autobot fugitive. The bots back home would think he’d blown a diode. He glanced back at the trail he’d just passed over, seeing how crumbly and terrible the rock had been… 

If he hadn’t had the support, he might have fallen.

Then again, if this thing hadn’t been such a problem, he’d not be out here like this…

Sentinel shook his head as he kept walking. They had to be getting closer to SOMETHING that wasn’t more mountain.

* * *

“Brother?”

Jetstorm had been busy reading the scans they’d been doing over the massive mountain, he’d barely heard Jetfire. “Hm? Yes brother?”

“Do you think Sentinel Prime sir is doing okay?”

Jetstorm frowned, though one couldn’t tell from his alt mode. “I am sure he is doing perfectly alright! He is strong and going to make himself the problem of everyone, like always.”

“I am knowing this but he is also frightened by robo-rat in brig. Remember when he screamed so loud and set off lock down alarms?”

“How can I forget? Woke us up from three nanokliks of recharge!” Jetstorm couldn’t help but laugh. “Hmm. I am getting his energy signature. But also another? This way.” He veered off towards the mountain, easily spotting the dot of blue among the red and orange landscape. The sun was just coming up behind them…

“Sentinel Prime, sir!” Jetfire zoomed ahead, transforming midair and landing a little ways away from their commanding officer. “There you are! We have been very worried-”

“Ah! There you two grunts are!” Sentinel immediately straightened up, folding his arms and scowling. “I’ve been trying to get in contact with you two and Jazz for what feels like deca cycles!”

“But… We are not getting any com pings.” Jetstorm mused, landing alongside his brother. 

“I don’t wanna hear it! Whatever the case may be, the fugitive has been, regrettably, neutralized.” He informed the two, not even noticing the tendrils coiling and returning to their positions. “We’ll have to report this to HQ as soon as we get back to the ship, and hopefully get off this Allspark forsaken rock...” He paused as he saw he Twins just… staring. “Oi! Cogs! Something wrong with your intakes? Pick those chinguards off the floor, and-!”

"Sentinel Prime, sir... what is THAT?" Jetfire asked, trying to get around the prime to get a better look at whatever was clinging to his back.

"What? What are you talking about?" He demanded, "I don't know what you're talking about." Though... he was turning away from Jetfire, trying to keep the monster on his back concealed. Fortunately, he was able to keep pace and keep him from seeing what it was.

Unfortunately he had forgotten about Jetstorm.

"Whoa! This thing... it is so very ugly! Brother come see!" Jetstorm gleefully stepped towards it... only to cry out and jump backward as a tendril lashed out at him.

The monster on Sentinel's back was hunched over, with two huge spiky holes in its plating. Its armor was rusted and filthy, covered in ancient energon stains... Jetfire was quick to join his brother as the monster began to rattle and scream, spare tendrils reaching out and trying to swing at the twins...

"...Be holding still, Sir. I will be burning this space barnacle off you in two kliks!" Jetfire offered, already starting to flare up. "No one is taking a swing at my brother like that!"

"AND WHO SAID YOU HAD PERMISSION TO DO THAT?!" Sentinel turned, ready to deploy his shield at a moment’s notice. "Stand down, Jetfire, you’ll probably burn my aft plating off!" Jetfire was capable of removing this awful thing but... he didnt trust him not to also burn his mesh off. "Listen, this thing... well, okay this is going to sound bad but it could be useful to us. It uh. It HELPED me take care of the Autbot fugitive." He reached up and over-enthusiastically patted one of the tendrils. "Haha, right little guy? You did that! Besides, uh. I think this thing will... be useful for the Autobot science division! Yeah! It uh... it spits acid and stuff!" The monster rattled some more, rumbling its rusty and battered engine, as the Jet Twins exchanged looks.

"...Really? That is awesome!" Jetstorm stepped forward again, looking more than enthused... "Disgusting but awesome!"

"Y-yeah! Obviously, it’s not hard for a bot like me to gain something like this’ trust. Only a screwloose junkpile reject could resist me like that." He replied, finding it easier to keep going the more he spoke. "Uh...! Why dont one of you go and get Jazz and bring him here, and the other can help me go back and clear the place of all the data on the terminals in there? And then we can get off this pitspawned planet for good? Who knows what that fugitive could have been hiding here?”

He didn’t want to get rid of this thing. As wild as it sounded, he was... grateful to this weird, ugly thing. He would have fallen down off that ledge and probably would have never been found if the monster had not tried to help him cross. The least he could do for it was to give it a chance to get off him and leave peacefully. 

"Uh..." the Twins looked at each other again. They didn’t mind going with Sentinel, but to be stuck with him AND that weird metal thing on his back… Hard to say which would be worse to deal with.

"...why do you not go with him, Brother?" Jetfire asked. "You two are the same color, you are matching."

"No no, brother, you should go. He may need your firepower to defend him." Jetstorm replied, pushing his brother towards Sentinel.

"Oh ha ha. I know, but I think you are better suited for the Cave Exploring-!"

"No no! I am insisting!" 

"ENOUGH." Sentinel snapped, which made both younger bots snap to attention. "Jetfire you're with me. Jetstorm, you go get Jazz and bring him back here. Carry him if you have to! Just make it quick. Jetfire get me over this hole, I’ll lead you to where I came out."

Jazz would know what to do.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was at a crossroads with this... monster. What was he to do with it? Jazz, despite being his subordinate, was wise and knew how to handle things tactfully. Maybe Jazz could convince it to get off him?

"Uh. Yes sir." The pair of fliers seemed hesitant to part ways, and Jetfire placed a caring pat on Jetstorm's shoulder... Jetstorm nodded, taking off and flying as fast as he could back to Jazz.

"Alright, Jetfire. Uh. Grab my... shoulders...?" How was he going to have Jetfire carry him over...? "Ah, okay here!" He grabbed one of the tendrils, holding it up.

"....That is not a very funny joke, Sentinel Prime, sir." Jetfire huffed, wary as he approached his senior officer. "But if you are insisting." He reached out and shakily touched the tendril...Only to have it snatched away and have his servo slapped at by a claw. “I… Don’t think it is liking me, sir!” 

“Oh for spark’s sake!” Sentinel grabbed one of the tendrils, gripping it hard. “Look, I know you don’t wanna be touched, you… you weird thing! But we have work to do, so it’s either you scuttle us back over that rock face, or you let Jetfire hold your overly sensitive faulty excuse for wirebundles for two kliks so he can fly us across! Or I can just let him burn you off my back, if you wanna be difficult?” His reprimanding was met with a shriek that made Jetfire jump and cover his audial sensors… Sentinel was certainly less bothered, as it didn’t echo as badly out here in the open. “Oh knock it off, you! I really should give you a name since I can’t just keep calling you ‘monster’ or ‘it’. Since you like screaming so much, how about Screamer? No, that’s too close to Starscream, that won’t do. Yell? Shriek?” Shriek was a lot more… refined? Than Yell… “Fine. You’re Shriek now. Now, are you gonna let Jetfire carry us or not?”

Shriek was gripping his body tighter now, rattling more… But the tendrils reached out, and grabbed the rock face so it could start scuttling back across. Sentinel just crossed his arms, looking back at Jetfire. “Well? Come on!” He turned away, ready to start walking back up the trail again as Jetfire floated after him, optics trained on the bizarre creature now named Shriek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is coming up. So chapters to this and other fics may be sparse. I hope you guys like this fic, because I sure as hell do. Big shout out to Preacher who helps me dissect my thought processes and point out plot holes.


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